japanese Archives - Page 17 of 25

Sushi Costume w/ Wasabi Headband DIY (No sewing needed)

October 19, 2016

Yay! Halloween is just around the corner again! I am a bit crazy over costumes because I like to think about them months in advance. In fact, I might actually already think what I’ll be the NEXT year on November 1st!

Although I love costumes and themed events, I am also terrible at DIY, drawing, arts/crafts, and can barely thread a needle. I’ve been wanting to brush up on my sewing skills and maybe take a beginners course somewhere, but haven’t had the time to yet.

Anyway, for Halloween this year, the boyfriend and I have decided to be… SUSHI!!! We seriously LOVE sushi and it is one of foods I can still eat without having a bad reaction.

diy-sushi-costume — Everything prepped and made at home from the boyfriend! <3

Well, I’m going to be a salmon nigiri, but the boyfriend will be a sushi chef. He actually worked as a sushi chef last year in between school (long story). From that job, he’s become really good at making rolls and very knowledgeable in sashimi prep and taste.
I will first start off with the salmon sashimi costume!

MATERIALS NEEDED FOR SUSHI (Wasabi headband part after):

Hot glue gun
Fluffy pillow
Orange pillowcase OR orange fabric to make the pillowcase – approx 1 square meter
White felt
Safety pins – approx 10 (optional if you are planning on sewing your pillow case)
White shirt
A long strip of black fabric approx. 5 inches/12 cm height. Width is depending on your hip size, but it will have to wrap around your body 1.5 times.

1) Put orange fabric around pillow. (Skip if you already have a pillowcase) Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any orange pillowcases so I bought a meter of a random orange fabric at the fabric store. Here is Benji being curious and wondering if there are pellets hidden.

Spread out the fabric and put the pillow in the center. Test out how you’d like to wrap the pillow. I treated mine as if it was a present I needed to wrap.
2) Pin together the fabric. If you have a pillow case, simply pin together the opening. You can also use a hot glue gun for this.

Or, if you know how to sew, just sew it together (Keep in mind this tutorial is for those who can’t sew, so be nice!)
3) Get your white felt and using a ruler, draw equal lines to make the strip. Having lines will make it easier for you to cut the felt evenly.
4) Use the hot glue gun to glue the white strips! You may choose to position them in a V shape like me, or just diagonally.

5) Wear a white shirt. You will be the nigiri rice!

6) Use the black fabric or black belt to wrap the pillow on your back. You may also choose to safety the top part of the pillow to the tshirt for more reinforcement.

7) Done!
MATERIALS NEEDED FOR WASABI & GINGER HEADBAND:

Green loofah
Pink fabric
Scissors
Hot glue gun
Headband (one that matches your hair colour or green, pink)

1) Cut up the pink fabric to 5×1 inch rectangles. It is up to you how many, I chose to do 5 slices of ginger.

2) Glue one end of the strip to the headband w/ hot glue gun, starting from either the left or right.

3) Continue gluing the strips, with each one half overlapping the other. The idea is to glue halfway of the headband. You don’t want it all across or that looks kinda weird and not cute.

4) Glue the green loofah towards the side, on top of the pink fabric.

AND DONEEEE! Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures wearing it as Halloween is still almost about 2 weeks away. I still need to find a white shirt to wear, hoping to find a 3/4 sleeve one so I won’t be that cold. As well, I need to safety pin the pillow to said shirt for more reinforcement.

But I will DEFINITELY update this post with a picture once I find that! I just wanted to post this before Halloween incase you’re looking for ideas and instructions.
As a bonus, you could paint your nails as salmon nigiri too! I used a mix of triangle and diagonally striped sashimi here!

Edit: Us on Halloween with the costume! The boyfriend bought a sushi chef apron off Amazon, and we went to Daiso for the sushi chef hat. It’s actually a decorative towel but it worked as a headband too!

Happy costuming!!!

Tentatsu- Burnaby Location

October 13, 2016

You may be familiar with the original Tentatsu restaurant in East Van, by Hastings and Nanaimo. Tentatsu recently just opened their second location in Burnaby, about a 8 minute drive from the original!

The boyfriend and I decided to try it on a whim one evening.

In addition, Tentatsu was having a 10% grand opening discount! Perfect time to try it out and see if it matched the original.

The restaurant itself is really big and spacious. It reminds me of a dance hall and is good for large groups.

Compared to the original location, I liked the service here a LOT better. Thinking about the service at the original makes me so angry because of how atrocious it was.

The staff weren’t friendly, but quick and efficient enough. Or maybe because I have such low standards from the original Tentatsu that I thought their service was decent (actually, this is definitely the case).

We were also impressed with how they served quality genmaicha tea (Japanese match green tea w/ brown rice) for free! I was happy when our food came quite quickly, unlike the original location where my mom and I waited almost 30 minutes when it wasn’t that busy.

California roll: The California roll was decent, and tasted fresh. It has a good about of ripe avocado inside and topped with crunchy sesame seeds.

Salmon roll: The rice in the salmon roll was still warm, but it was good nonetheless.

Tuna roll: The tuna roll was decent as well, no complaints about it!

Salmon nigiri: I only wanted one to try their sashimi, but the boyfriend insisted I order 3. You will soon see why it was not a good idea!

The sashimi had a slight fishy taste to it and was fresh. Lately, I’ve been tasting ‘sashimi’ that has the texture of sashimi, but no taste. So, it was a relief when there was a slight salmon taste!

Negitoro roll: We were dissappointed with this roll because it barely came with any tuna. However, the tuna was fresh and tasted good! There was only a few measly pieces of green onion inside.

Negihamachi roll: I didn’t try this because I was too busy trying to finish the other dishes. The boyfriend thought it was okay, but could have used more flavour. Again, the rice was slightly warm.

House roll: The house roll was pretty decent! As with all the rolls, it tasted fresh. It is basically a large California roll with tamago and masago.

BC roll: Nope, not as good as Uomo next door. The salmon was a bit dry and bland and way too fishy.

Here is a picture of the negitoro roll. You can see the small amount of tuna compared to rice, and how little onion there was.

With a seemingly negative review, would I come back? Yes! Although it’s not the BEST, the prices are amazing for what you get. Service is quick and efficient too.

We ordered all this food, with so much leftovers for $25 including tip and tax! Granted, there was a 10% opening discount but $27-29 for all this food is really cheap. It’s a good option for a quick bite in the neighbourhood!

Yay!

Kilala Sushi

October 2, 2016

Earlier in the summer, myself, the boyfriend, and Sangria decided to venture out from our usual sushi joints and try a longstanding but hidden restaurant, Kilala Sushi. They’ve been around for awhile now, and I hear their name getting tossed around from time to time.

Kilala Sushi is an authentic Japanese restaurant, run solely by a husband and wife team. They also specialize in distributing tamago for various restaurants in Vancouver, so this place is half restaurant/half tamago-making factory? I say that because the sitting area itself is quite small but you can see that the back is a bit factory like, with a very big stainless steel kitchen.
Appetizer sashimi, $5.95: The appetizer sashimi comes with three pieces of tuna, and two pieces of salmon. The salmon was average, but the tuna was really good. It was very soft and buttery, and melted in your mouth.
Tamago roll, $2.25: As I mentioned above, they specialize in tamago, so it was only natural to try it! The tamago was sweet, fluffy, and tasted fresh. I really liked how it had a fluffy texture, as a lot of places I’ve been to have a harder texture with dried edges (which means it’s not fresh and has fried out).

Negitoro roll, $3.00: The boyfriend and I ALWAYS order negitoro roll, so we had to try Kilala’s version of it! It was pretty good, and above average. Just like the tuna sashimi, the tuna in here was also soft and buttery. It was filled with lots of green onion too. They definitely did not skimp out on the tuna and the onion.
Hmmm, I don’t recall what these two rolls were called and I can’t find anything similar on the online menu! Sorry.

Even though I don’t remember what they were called, I remember how they tasted! Both tasted very fresh, and were filling. Just look at how big that salmon sashimi is inside the roll!

All in all, Kilala serves quality and authentic sushi, and the three of us enjoyed our meal. Everything was fresh, and even though there was only one server (the wife, husband was the chef), service was quick and friendly.

The only downside of this place is that it is quite hidden behind a bush and the seating is also a cramped.

Yay!

Olive & Anchor

September 20, 2016

During the last week of summer, the boyfriend and I went to a bunch of different outdoor places around the Lower Mainland to savour what was left of the season. One of these places was the beautiful Whytecliff Park, which is a bit past West Vancouver and by the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal.

After enjoying an afternoon at Whytecliff Park, we decided to venture to Horseshoe Bay. Four minutes drive later, we arrived into the small but lively village and decided to try Olive & Anchor after I found it on Yelp!

I am really glad we tried this place because everything about it was spectacular!
Since we had already quickly looked at the menu on Yelp, we knew we wanted to try their happy hour. I also really wanted to try this place because most of their happy hour items were dairy free! Olive & Anchor has some Asian influences in their dishes, which explains why there wasn’t dairy in a number of their plates.
Ebi mayo, $6: We started off with the ebi mayo, which was a shrimp and green bean tempura. After seeing this at another table, it looked kinda small and we were kinda doubtful that it was worth $6.

However, the tempura was fried really nicely and had a lovely crunch to it. It came with Japanese mayo, which we both love a lot. If you haven’t tried Japanese mayo before, I urge you to try it out!
KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) Wings, $6: The chicken wings came in a delicious sweet chili glaze, topped with crunchy cashews and sesame seeds.

The wings were juicy and full of flavour. Just like the ebi mayo, the fried batter on these wings tasted really fresh as well.
Crispy cod taco, $6: I am normally not a fan of tacos (cue GASPS) but I was feeling adventurous that day and ordered this. BOY, am I GLAD I did because this was delicious. This taco right here is starting to convert me into a taco person!

The cod was fried perfectly, while the fish was juicy and flaked off nicely. The taco came with a generous amount of fresh veggies and a slice of avocado. I was seriously considering ordering another one but stopped myself.
Fish poppers, $6: These were like mini fish fillets. Again, the fish was juicy and flaky with a very fresh and crunchy batter. So good!

Olive & Anchor really wowed us not only with their food, but with their service as well. Our server was really friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient. I wish that all servers were this amazing.
I have nothing but good words to say about Olive & Anchor. I wish we discovered this place at the beginning of summer, so we could take advantage of the outdoor seating and ferry view more. But, I know that we will definitely be back!

Yay!

Jia Plus Fusion Cafe

September 9, 2016

I don’t know about you, but I rarely venture out to Pitt Meadows. There hasn’t ever really been a reason to hang out in Pitt Meadows, until now! One of my friends opened up a cute little cafe in Pitt Meadows last year, in Osprey Village.

We were pretty surprised at how fast the drive was to Pitt Meadows! It was a bit under 30 minutes from Burnaby. Without traffic, the drive is really smooth and easy.
Osprey Village is a new development in Pitt Meadows right by the river. It reminded me of a quaint little seaside village, similar to Steveston but a lot more quieter, community focused, and no salt water smell.

There is one central street, which is lined with little boutique stores. There is also plenty of parking, and also a big parking lot for visitors!
If you didn’t already guess by the name, Jia Plus serves Asian style beverage and snacks. All the syrups are made daily by Vicky, and the teas are brewed fresh! The price is really reasonable as well.

The cafe has five tables inside and does not feel cramped at all. There are also a couple of patio seats, which are perfect for the summer! The high ceilings and warm lights makes it feel very comfortable.

The artwork inside the cafe is actually a partnership with a local art gallery down the block, and customers are able to purchase the original pieces.
Passion fruit green tea w/ pearls: It had all the qualities that I looked for in a bubble tea, and more. The jasmine green tea and a really fragrant and floral flavour, which is my absolute favourite when it comes to green tea. I am very picky about my jasmine green tea and this one tasted absolutely perfect. In addition, the pearls had the perfect chewy consistency and tasted fresh.

Unfortunately, I don’t recall exactly what my friends ordered. However, they all also really enjoyed their drinks!
Ramen: Apart from the drinks, Jia Plus also has some food items as well! The majority of us ordered the ramen. Vicky cooks the broth from scratch, and you can really taste the quality in it. The ramen also comes with a slice of tender pork, egg, and bamboo shoots. It was very comforting and filling, perfect for the cloudy day when we visited.
BBQ Chicken Rice Bowl: I know, it doesn’t look like a rice bowl right? The rice was actually underneath the greens! Sadly, I didn’t get to try this because the dressing had dairy in it. However, my friends are also all foodies and I trust their opinion when they said it was really good!
Jia Plus also offers cute little macaroons!

All in all, Jia Plus is a fantastic little cafe with one of the best green teas in the Vancouver area. Everything is made with quality, and you can definitely taste it.

Yay!